The hard frosts we’ve had over the last week have finally gotten to the callicarpa. The berries are beginning to show the effects of freezing and are starting to wither and lose color. If I’m going to do this thing, now is the time.

The glossy and gloriously purple berries of the callicarpa are the reason the common name for the garden shrub is “Beautyberry” Long, delicate stems are abundantly dressed in blooms, early on, and for the remainder of the summer, into the fall, and clearly, into the beginnings of winter, in a wealth of small purple fruits that do not seem to be the dining choice of any species. I don’t know, maybe later when the flesh is gone from them and they are tiny seeds littering the surrounding mulch, maybe then the birds eat them. I should look that up. It would be quite a feasting ground.